Healthy Hollywood: The World's Most Incredible Massage!

January 31, 2013 01:25 PM EDT

Healthy Hollywood is in a state of absolute bliss! Me, Terri MacLeod, has heard a lot about Thai Stretching (or massage), but I’ve never tried it – until this morning. And, I really don’t have the words to describe how mind-blowing this body treatment is. I’ve tried a lot of different massages, but after I finished my session with Fred Devito, co-owner of Exhale Spa, I have never felt lighter, more energized, and completely stress-free!

Exhale Spa invited Healthy Hollywood to experience this one hour session, which is a unique blend of yoga and massage. Unlike traditional massage, Thai stretching is done on a padded floor and you stay clothed in yoga gear. The practitioner uses his hands, knees, legs, and feet to move your body through a series of yoga-like stretches. “There’s no oil in this. This follows the same discipline as acupuncture, where you’re following meridians in the body to release blockages and allow energy to flow. We aren’t working on one body part at a time, which is done in traditional Swedish massage. We are working on multiple parts because we are stretching you as we are pressuring, so you’re getting the best of both worlds,” explains Fred to Healthy Hollywood.

Fred started me my back and began kneading my feet to help relax the entire body. Then, he began to work his way up my legs, telling me to breathe deeply in and out as he twisted, pulled, and palmed my legs. “Then we get up into the hip stretches and hip openers and traditional tree pose and different twists that I take you through to help open up your spine and open your hips and get your blood flowing. I took your legs overhead then into side body work, where crossed your legs … then I put my feet under your shoulder blades pulling arm back to really open up your chest and work my thumb into your shoulder blades to get rid of all the knots,” Fred continues about my Thai Stretch session. During the entire session, I seriously slip into a deep meditative state of breathing and surrender my body to Fred’s manipulation. It’s absolutely an out-of-body experience.

Fred then turns me onto my stomach and continues to manipulate my calves, hamstrings and shoulders. Then, he tells me to go into child pose and uses his own body weight to continue to open up my back and spine.

Next, is the sitting position and a series of partner stretches. “We do hamstrings, groins, side bends and then we do a back bend where you fall over and surrender and then I finish you on the floor in a fish pose and a little palming around neck and then send you into bliss,” Fred concludes on my treatment

Bliss is the only word to capture how I am a feeling. Hopefully nothing will interrupt my state of absolute wellness. Healthy Hollywood gives Thai Stretching two thumbs way up!